Radiology Physician Job

Reason for this eight-member group’s search is a result of growing volume and they have been encouraged by their hospital to recruit an MSK trained radiologist to satisfy the orthopedic imaging needs of the community. Clinically, the group needs someone who likes all of the imaging modalities but is willing to spend some percentage of their time doing exclusively MSK. There are five orthopedic surgeons as as two sports medicine docs that would be referring exlusively to you. In addition, the hospital is in the process of recruiting two more orthopods and potentiallly one more sports medicine doctor, meaning a lot of MSK for someone with the interpersonal marketing skills to build it to its full potential. The hospital is also soon to break ground on a new building dedicated exclusively to orthopedics and they expect that to be completed in 2010. Ideally, they would like to find someone well versed in nucs, mammo, fluoro, plain film and basic intrvnl procedures (an abscess drainage, a CT guided biopsy, etc) as well, but will consider candidates on a case by case basis. The MSK training is #1. The group does very little angio so this skill is not really required.   They do, however, have a lot of MRI overall and someone's MSK skills are obviously going to be put to good use.  Their hospital has been turned into a center of excellence for spine and their neuro guys have started doing kyphoplasties in addition to the vertebroplasties they have been doing for awhile.  The next concern for the group is finding someone with a pretty good work ethic (expect a personal volume of about 16K-18K a year), and more importantly, someone who is self-motivated and looking for a long term situation. Next on the group’s check list is finding someone who meets both of the above criteria and can fit in with the group interpersonally. And to best describe what kind of person would fit in best with them, it may be easier to explain the kind of environment you would be working in which, in its simplest form might be described as busy and service oriented, but casual and balanced.  The group has been in their present 400-bed community hospital for 20+ years and over that time the group has fostered extremely close relationships with their referring docs, the hospital administration, and the community itself. So, while they cannot afford to stand around drinking coffee or shooting the breeze with each other a lot, they always and without exception, make time for the people they serve. If a referring doc calls, the call is answered or returned promptly. Patients and techs are treated with respect and dignity.  And the group really does work on the same team as the hospital. At the same time, things are pretty much on a first name basis and they could care less whether you like symphonies or stock car racing (both of which by the way are available within 30 minutes). They just want a regular guy or gal who cares about what they do and who truly wants to come here to settle in and become a partner. It is a very unique opportunity for a MSK trained radiologist looking to make the most of their sub-specialty training in a private practice setting. 

In return, the group offers a pretty nice professional set-up in a number of respects. Physically the group presently covers two locations, the primary location being a 400-bed community hospital about 30 minutes from downtown St. Louis. As stated earlier, the group has been in this hospital for almost 2 decades now and so can provide a very stable base of operations for the long term. The hospital’s equipment includes a Phillips Interion  1.5 T MR, a 3.0 T Phillips MR (the first in the region used for clinical purposes, got it in August 2005), 2 multi-slice CT scanners and a 64-slice, a dual head nucs camera, digital fluoro, and more.  PACS was implemented 2 1/2 years ago and they are now on voice recognition.  It is a very efficiently running department.  The group also covers an imaging center.  The center is hospital owned and is located roughly 15 minutes from the hospital on the IL side of the river and is similarly equipped. The next big advantage to this situation is that the group is very well-run from a business standpoint.  

Lifestyle is also important to this practice, and while there is a fair amount of money to be made as a radiologist in this situation, the group feels having a life outside of radiology is pretty important, too. As well, you can look forward to having a very reasonable call schedule of only 1:9. And they group does use a  nighthawk service.  Because of the level of volume the group has currently, they are only taking about 10 weeks of vacation. The group’s location also offers a very wide variety of places in the area to live running the gamut from a downtown high-rise apartment or suburban subdivision (on either side of the river) to gentlemen’s farm with a few acres to play around on. So, whether you like having the amenities of the city at your front door, or just close enough to get to easily, you should be able to find what you are looking for, and at a pretty good price.  One guy lives in the Chesterfield Valley on the west side of St. Louis.  The commute is against traffic, so living just about anywhere in the St. Louis area is possible.  This is an excellent opportunity for someone that wants to take advantage of the Midwest’s good earning potential and remain close to a metro area like St. Louis.

Community: It is a city of 50,000 or so roughly 30 minutes from downtown St. Louis, which is a metro area of 2.2 million people.  Good schools, amenities galore, and a great four-season climate await you.

Call or fax/email your CV for more details.

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